Reporter’s diary

Press, 12 March 1982, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Saved A WOMAN reader had her faith in the human race badly dented while out for a stroll one warm evening this week. She heard a kitten, and quickly traced the frantic mewing and rustling to a blue Christchurch City Council rubbish bag, tied at the top. The woman ripped open the bag and extricated the kitten from among the rubbish. It quickly recovered and now has a good home, but the woman is convinced that consignment to a refuse tip would be a fitting punishment for the human responsible. Losing battle UNLIKE its Auckland counterpart, the Automobile Association (Canterbury) will persevere with the costly and never-ending job of replacing vandalised road signs’. After the sign pointing to Puhoi on State Highway One had been wrecked or stolen 15 times, the Auckland A.A. finally gave up in disgust and announced that it would not be replaced. Fixing vandalised signs cost the Canterbury association ¥30,000, almost one-third of its entire budget, in 1979-80, and the problem has got worse since then, according to the Chief Service Officer, Mr Harry Daniel. “We get it from both sides. If we are a bit slow replacing a sign because we cannot afford it, the lawabiding motorist jumps up and down because he gets lost and wastes petrol,” said Mr Daniel. Some vandals are

so determined that they use chainsaws and four-wheel-drive vehicles to topple signs. The association dreads the onset of the ski-ing season, when signs are laid waste wholesale in the Methven and Mount Hutt areas. In one attack, not a sign had 6 been left standing on the road from Methven to the Mount Hutt turn-off, down to the Ashburton Forks and back to , Methven. “It is especially bad if the ski-field closes early,” said Mr Daniel. Just after Christmas all the signs on State Highway One between Amberley and Waipara were torn down. The roads leading to Coes Ford were another high-risk area. Straight talk

NEW ZEALAND is not the only country with a frightening road toll, as evidenced by the 1140 killed and 9500 injured on roads in Zimbabwe last year. Fatalities were up by 47 per cent on the previous year, and “The People’s Weekly” did not mince words in an editorial about the carnage. It said: “The figures of dead and injured on our roads are disgusting and shameful, especially to a people recuperating from a bitter and costly war . . . there is little doubt that Independence Euphoria plays a part in this recklessness on our roads. We need not remind Zimbabweans that thej» can only enjoy the fruits of independence when above and not under the ground .. Drunken drivers must get off the wheel; passengers must

behave and not obstruct drivers; pedestrians must look in all directions before they decide to cross the road, and cyclists should keep well to the left.” The editorial made the disconcerting observation: “It is bad enough to kill another person. It is worse to kill oneself.” One good turn... TWO free tickets to the musical stage show “Annie” are waiting at the Christchurch Operatic Society for the gentleman who helped Janice Gray, who plays the villainous Aggie Hannigan, to change her punctured . car tyre outside the Town Hall this week. Ms Gray and other stranded members of the “Annie” cast had appealed in vain for help to the crowd spilling out of the Cliff Richard concert before their helper arrived. “He was very chivalrous,” she said. Mt Cook week-end A WEEK-END at Mount Cook can be a disappointment if the mountain itself remains covered by cloud, as it can for days on end. But a trip there this week-end will be of interest even if the weather does not oblige. The Mount Cook National Park has arranged a special, programme of displays, guided walks and illustrated talks to commemorate the centenary (which fell earlier this month) of the first attempt on Mount Cook by the Rev. W. S. Green and two Swiss

companions. With the Hermitage not many more hours away from Christchurch than it took Green days to make the journey 100 years ago, this would be a good weekend to make a flying visit, with fingers crossed that the weather will leave the scenic splendour of the place exposed to add to the interest of the special programme. Meanwhile... AN ASCENT of Mount Cook, which a party of climbers who lives at the Hermitage had hoped to make close to the actual anniversary of the 1882 attempt, was thwarted earlier this month by enormous crevasses in the Linda Glacier. The hope now is that a centennial climb can be made later in the year which will be as close a re-enact-ment as possible of the original attempt, down to the climbers using the clothes and equipment of 108 years ago (without stopping, presumably, the very short distance from the summit where Green and his companions turned back in the face of bad weather). Ski record A YOUNG Australian, Grant Torrens, has broken the world water ski-ing speed record on the Hawkesbury River, near Windsor, New South Wales. He reached 136.36 m.p.h. on his third run, shattering the existing record of 125.69 m.p.h., set by American Danny Churchill in 1973.